The Photographer behind "Downtown: Minneapolis in the 1970s"

Minneapolis in the 1970s was a very different place than it is today. Luckily, Mike Evangelist loved taking pictures of the sights and sounds of the streets back then. Now his pictures are compiled in a book called "Downtown: Minneapolis in the 1970s" and he paid us a visit to tell the story behind the camera.

As a teenager, Mike would hop the bus from the suburbs and travel into the big city of Minneapolis. He was a budding photographer and sought inspiration from photos inside of Life magazine and other publications. He also admitted that he wanted to meet girls too.

What followed were hundreds of pictures of life in Minneapolis back in the 70s. After posting some of his old pictures on the Old Minneapolis Facebook group, he received a lot of interest in his work. This lead to meeting with writer Andy Sturdevant and creating "Downtown: Minneapolis in the 1970s."

To order a copy of the book from the Minnesota Historical Society, click here. And if you'd like to see Mike's photographs for yourself, you can visit the exhibit for "Downtown" at Mill City Museum through April 3rd.